Summary: Chuck E. Cheese’s has a reputation for offering family fun events at an affordable cost. However, is the affordable cost the reason why infamous brawls between parents appear on YouTube? Freakonomics researches Chuck E. Cheese’s price strategy to find out what effect it has on disputes involving police.

Summary: What if the odds of finding Elvis Presley alive were 5000 to 1? You could have had those same odds if you bet on Leicester City to win the most watched soccer league. Freakonomics discusses the near-impossible story of how this little club pulled off the biggest upset in an environment that rewards those who spend.

Original Air Date: May 25, 2016

Length: 45 minutes 15 seconds

Discussion Question: What behavior is being encouraged by the structure of the English league? Compare it with an American league. How is competition affected?

Summary: In response to the infamous documentary Super Size Me, one woman toured her local area in search for the best burger. Shockingly, she didn’t gain a single pound despite eating two burgers a week. Freakonomics discusses the surprising results.

Original Air Date: December 10, 2015

Length: 34 minutes 21 seconds

Discussion Question: What role does utility play in this situation? Will satisfaction of the second burger eaten always be the same? Explain.

Summary: This podcast was inspired by the death of Gary Becker, an economist who’s work was inspired by the idea of discrimination. His approach was called ‘rational choice’–that people will make rational decisions to maximize their own utility and wealth. In the end, a lot of people strongly disagreed with his research. The program then goes on to illustrate two more examples of medical researchers who were outcast by their fields of study. By the end, however, Gary Becker won a Nobel Prize.

Original Air Date: September 18, 2014

Length: 41 minutes 40 seconds

Prompt / Discussion: Sometimes people will not agree with your research conclusions or ideas, such is the case with Gary Becker. Why do you think Becker’s ideas were/are so controversial?

Summary: Return on Investment (ROI) analyzes at the most efficient way to spend money. An example given is the difference between curing malaria and HIV/AIDS. To cure malaria, it would cost about $1,000 per person, while it would cost ten times that to cure HIV/AIDS, and it is decided that they would rather save 10 people from malaria before they save one from HIV/AIDS. The United Nations, with their Millennium Development Goals coming to a close, will be looking to set new goals in 2015, to be completed by 2030. One of the issued they will focus on is how they are setting goals, and how to be more efficient with the help of the Return on Investment analysis.

Original Air Date: October 2, 2014

Length: 43 minutes 34 seconds

Prompt / Discussion: You are a member of the United Nations, and are put in charge of coming up with new development goals for 2015. You have $100 billion to invest in various development aid. Discuss how you would prioritize between an important, expensive goal (such as getting all kids into school, which was one of the Millennium Development Goals), and something that might not be seen as highly important, but cost effective.